Ring Fragments
by NemesisNecrosis
Summary: Shorts and fragments of stories I may write more in later. Some Omakes of other peoples' stories that I need to put somewhere. Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.


The Battle of the Long Night

"You call him your brother, but he is your cousin, is he not?"

"Well, yes, but we have lived together off and on and loved each other as siblings since his mother and my father died at the Battle of the Long Night."

"Battle of the Long Night?"

"Oh, yes, I suppose you wouldn't know about that... well, it's a bit of a tale..."

"We're hardly going anywhere, lad, stuck in these cells as we are."

"Well, I suppose...

"It was almost twenty years ago now, when the worst winter in living memory struck the Shire. The first snowfall was in early October, before the harvest was complete, and it was up to our waists by November. At first, it was pleasant enough, the tweens and fauntlings found much fun in building snow forts and sledding down the hills. We managed to shovel paths through the most important areas, and despite the harvest being cut short we had enough food to last until spring.

"My father and I were in Bag-end when the first blizzard struck, visiting after bringing supplies to the poorer folk in Hobbiton from the Great Smials in Tuckborough. It blew over after three days, but then it was followed by the coldest weather our gentle land had seen in many a year. So cold, in fact, that the Brandywine River froze over.

"We didn't know this, but up in Buckland on the other side of the river they'd been fighting since mid-November, holding back the starving wolf packs that had crossed the bramblewall there. Once the river froze over... well, the Brandywine is the foremost natural defence the Shire has, and without its current shielding us, we were quickly overrun. Anyone with sense sheltered in the greater smials in each town, as Bag-end is in Hobbiton and the Great Smials in Tuckborough, boarding up the windows and blockading the doors. Those who stayed in the homes above ground were fine at first, but any who left town were never seen again.

"And it didn't stop there. The deep snow and cold prevented the Dunedain, the Shire's protectors, from leaving their secret homes, and without them the goblins and orcs that often ventured close were able to reach us. Soon anyone outside of a smial was no longer safe, for the foul creatures would drag them out. Up to then, the Bounders were watching the towns and keeping them clear of dangers, but most were no match for the bands of orcs and they knew it, so they retreated to the greater smials with anyone they could gather from above ground.

"There were stores of wood in the cellar of Bag-end, but they were not meant to last all winter, and they were certainly not meant to heat the entire hill. By mid-December our situation was untenable, and most everyone with sense agreed that we would have to risk the orc packs and travel to Tuckborough, where the Thain traditionally kept stores great enough to withstand a siege. So we gathered up what food we had, and what weapons we could find, covered ourselves in thick cloaks and blankets and set off at sunrise.

"We were a few miles from the township when the sun set. Aunt Belladonna had wisely gone ahead with a forward party an hour earlier to warn the Thain we were coming. They must have realized we were cutting it too close, because we were met two miles out by two of my uncles and several more distant cousins, along with some unrelated kin, armed as they were able and watchful for threats. It seemed that we might make it without incident, when screams came from the end of the line.

"We were set upon by what seemed to be the majority of the wolves and goblins that had gathered in the Shire, and we had only fifty people with any training in fighting at all among a party of perhaps two hundred, and some of those were in their teens. All the rest were children, elderly, or weak-hearted. All seemed lost when Belladonna charged out of the woods with twenty of the Thain's finest Bounders, leading them in an attack which scattered the enemy and allowed the last of the Hobbiton refugees to reach the safety of the Great Smials."

"I thought you said she died there, though?"

"Mmn, no, that wasn't the Long Night. A few days later a pair of scouts dashed into the central hall to warn Uncle Isengrim and Grandfather that a great party of orcs, wargs, wolves and goblins, numbering about five hundred, had gathered some five miles from Tuckborough. Our adult fighters numbered no more than one hundred fifty in total, and we knew that though they might have a hard time breaching the stone smials of Tuckborough, they would manage it eventually. So we were caught between a rock and a hard place, and with too few fighters to stand up to five hundred, but no where else to turn, we chose to fight.

"At first they'd thought to leave anyone underage behind, but the addition of the tweens with some training would bring our numbers up to two hundred, and in the end we would not be left behind. Uncle Isengrim, Aunt Belladonna, Uncle Isumbras and my father, Hildigrim, led fifty fighters each, Isumbras taking the archers and the others with anyone else."

"So you and Bilbo fought, then?"

"Oh, yes; Bilbo's a crack shot with a bow, you know, and I, as you can see, prefer the sword. Uncle Isumbras is the best archer the shire has seen in centuries, and he was the one in charge of Bilbo's training whenever Aunt Belladonna brought him to visit the Great Smials. My father preferred the axe, and Uncle Isengrim fought with a spear, while Aunt Bella wore the very same blade I wear now, which she got in Rohan after saving the life of their Crown Prince."

"Your aunt saved the Crown Prince of Rohan?"

"Yes, it's quite the tale, but that can wait until later."

"Sorry."

"Quite, now where was I? Ah, yes, Uncle Isumbras set up his archers at the top of a ridge overlooking the orc camp, while Aunt Bella, who I was fighting under, had us sneak upon them under cover of darkness and the forest. I can only assume Isengrim and father were doing the same from different directions, though I didn't know anyone with them very well, at least no one that survived.

"We fell upon the camp an hour past dawn, and managed to cut down a sizable amount before any counterattack could be launched. We lost few in that first push, but soon the orc leader gathered the rest around himself and led an attack on Uncle Isengrim.

"The orc leader himself struck down my uncle, the eldest of my father's brothers, disheartening many of that group. Were it not for my father and aunt's quick actions, the enemy may have killed all of them, but luckily they were close enough that they teamed up and killed him right quick.

"With his death it seemed that we might win, but then his warg mount, a great black thing, perhaps three-quarters the size of that white beast of Azog's, charged into the two victorious Tooks, downing my aunt in one swift move. Father held it for a time, but it was large and still fresh, where my father was tiring. I ran, trying to reach them before he fell, but... I was so close..."

"I was watching all this from the ridge, he was only a few feet away when the damn warg caught Uncle Hildigrim in his teeth."

"Bilbo. I didn't realize you were down here listening."

"I could hardly help it when everyone else is so quiet."

"Oh."

"Are you going to continue, or would you rather I...?"

"No, I can... I can finish it.

"My blade had broken earlier, so all I had on me when I reached the warg was the dagger my father had given me as a child. I brandished it as I lept upon the warg's back, digging it in and holding on as the creature thrashed. It threw me off, and I landed next to aunt Bella. She was still alive, and she nudged her sword to me..."

"He lifted the blade just as the warg was moving to leap onto him, standing it straight up as it flew threw the air. Just in time, as it was thrust deep into its chest when it landed, killing it.

"The battle was nearly over at this point, and once all the enemies were dead or fled, a circle formed around the bodies. I reached them just in time to see Adalgrim shove the warg off himself and stumble to his feet."

"Aunt Bella lived long enough to make it back to the Great Smials, where she demanded that Bilbo be allowed to inherit Bag-end as soon as she was gone."

"Of course, the winter didn't end there, and many more died between the Battle and spring, including the Thain, Grandfather Took. The stress of losing three children was too much for him, especially at his age. Uncle Isumbras became Thain, then, though cousin Fortinbras is Thain now. But come mid-January the snows had receded enough that the Rangers could reach us once again, and they brought supplies and medical aid, along with men to guard the border."

"If we had known, I'm sure Uncle would have been willing to send what soldiers we could spare."

"I'm sure he would have, Kili, but we had few relations with the Blue Mountains. If we had, perhaps things would have ended differently..."

* * *

Edits to Canon: The quest takes place in 2931, rather than 2041. This is because Adalgrim Took's son, Paladin, was born in 2933, and thus he was likely married or about to be married around 2931, which as he was born in 2880, would make him 51 at the time. The plot of this story would have him 'doing a Bella', in other words, running from his wedding. He was to be married soon after the night of the Unexpected Party, and had been visiting with his cousin Bilbo to bemoan his fate, as the marriage was arranged by his mother. When the dwarves arrived he saw an excellent opportunity to escape, so he went along.

(According to the LotR Project, Rosa Took nee Baggins would have been 24 at the time of Adalgrim's birth, nine years before her majority. I have thus decided that she and Hildigrim were just having a dalliance, and then when she became pregnant they had to get married to prevent a greater scandal than marrying underage would have been. Rosa was somewhat bitter about this later in life, as she had wanted to marry for love and then have many more children, but Hildigrim had never intended to marry or have children at all, having wanted go off on adventures. Adalgrim was the same, but his mother would have none of it, and without his father there to stop it she arranged for him to marry.)


End file.
